Certain medical procedures, such as breast biopsies, must be done with the patient in a face down prone position. There are also imaging and scanning procedures that are done in a prone position. There are several variations of tables that currently exist for these procedures.
A major concern for these types of procedures is breast coverage. Breast coverage is to be understood as the volume of tissue that can be contained between a pair of parallel plates that are used to compress and scan the breast. Research has shown that a large proportion of breast tumors are found in the surrounding axilla region adjacent to the breast. Therefore, it is vital that the tools used to diagnose and treat breast tumors can access this area accordingly.
The tables that exist in the state of the art are standard, thick tables with a hole cut out to allow the breast to be pendantly suspended therethrough. The thickness of the table prevents the equipment located below the table to properly access the breast tissue such that the desired regions of interest are reached. In order to access the maximum breast tissue, the equipment must be allowed to be as close as possible to the rib cage.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a table such that a maximum volume of breast tissue can be accessed by the equipment located beneath it.